Last fall, Matt Mayfield, Associate Dean of Academics and Administration, asked the Student Association (IDSA) for help on advising.

We were asked to honor these guidelines: 1) to acknowledge that advising has a broad definition, including everything from class selection to career exploration;  2) to acknowledge the value the administration places on the community; 3) to set proper expectations with students and each other, and 4) to be aware of our own self-interests as students.

Phase I: Last fall, ten students in Ben Jacobson's course Introduction to Observing Users took up this challenge, subdividing ourselves into three teams to research students, faculty, and staff.  We synthesized our research and produced three decks and posters that are not shown here.  

Phase II: Last January during Winter break, five of us continued to synthesize the work of these three teams.  The link to this deck is available with this exhibit.  We then shared this with Prof. Ben Jacobson, and subsequently with Dean Mayfield, who chose two concepts to move forward: a student-initiated advising kit and the expansion of "advising" beyond faculty academic advisors.  

Phase III: Since February, two of us have continued to create a student-initiated advising kit.  Our original plan was to have this ready before Fall Registration (which usually happens after spring break), and to share our findings with the whole school at a workshop.  This never happened because of the pandemic.  When Fall Registration was moved to August, and when we discovered that IIT had changed their Registration user interface, we decided to push the deliverables of our materials to mid-July. 

Phase IV: August - December 2020: We will begin expanding formal "guidance" beyond just faculty academic advisors, and begin with a "peer buddy" for first-semester students.  We have already started recruiting peer buddies.  

To read more about this project, click here.

“It’s not always easy to work on a multi-stakeholder project with different levels of investment. We are grateful for an Administration that listens and really wants to do its best by its students. We are grateful to work with students who care about leaving ID a better place, for all future students.”

— Grace Hanford